African Mining Projects in Progress 2015

Mineral endowments are not only limited but they are also subjected to long-term real price decline and prone to cyclical vacillations. The minerals mostly require many skills and considerable capital to extract and process. Their momentum if understood and managed, could be used to change Africa’s disabling economic circumstances. The African continent is well endowed with mineral resources and has an extensive mining history. It hosts the world’s largest mineral reserves of platinum, gold, diamonds, chromite, manganese and vanadium. It also produces about 17% of the world’s uranium. Most of these minerals are exported as ores, concentrates or metals without significant downstream processing to add value. This is mainly owing to the weak assimilation of Africa’s mining sector into national economic and social activities, says the International Study Group Report on Africa’s Mineral Regimes. This has led to the continued belief that Africa’s untapped mineral potential can function as a springboard for the continent’s industrialisation. Creamer Media’s African Mining Projects in Progress 2015 report tracks developments taking place in Africa’s mining sector and across various mining sectors on the continent, including coal, copper, gold, iron-ore, platinum and uranium.